Construction Focus
Propertyguru Moves Toward Profit
Southeast Asia’s leading real estate website, PropertyGuru, expects to surge into profitability in 2017 as it experiences massive growth in ASEAN property markets, especially in Vietnam and Indonesia. Vietnam recently became PropertyGuru’s fifth market after Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. “We have hyper-growth, our revenues are growing over 30 percent,” CEO Hari Krishnan, told Dea...
Read MoreThai Property Awards launched
The annual PropertyGuru Thailand Property Awards, which seeks to reward the finest developers, properties and real estate personalities across the Kingdom, will return for its 12th annual edition this September. The event follows the success of the recent 2nd Cambodia Property Awards in March. The organiser expects to receive more than 300 entries from developers with ongoing projects located i...
Read MoreChina Building Collapse Claims Seven
The simultaneous collapse of four residential buildings in eastern China claimed at least seven lives in February. According to news agency Xinhua, the five-storey buildings collapsed early in the morning of 2 February in Dahui village, Baizhangji township, Wenzhou, an industrial city in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province. The collapse reportedly killed seven and buried a further nine. An inv...
Read MoreMalay-s’pore Rail Link Contracts Sealed
Malaysia and Singapore have announced the winners of key contracts for the showcase Kuala Lumpur – Singapore high speed rail link. US engineering giant Aecom will provide engineering consultancy services such as advanced engineering studies as well as architecture, civil engineering and M&E services to the Singapore end of the line, including for the iconic Jurong East terminus. Meanwhile, ...
Read MoreMalaysian Builders Protest at Foreign Worker Ruling
A new initiative by the Malaysian government for construction firms to pay an increased levy for every foreign worker has resulted in protests from the industry. As of 1 January 2017, construction companies were required to pay a fee of USD413 per worker, up from USD213. Employers of the estimated 900,000 foreign workers believe this will extract a further USD447m from the industry, making it l...
Read MoreCompensation derailing Thai link
A rail link between Thailand and Cambodia scheduled to open by mid-2017 could be delayed by the need to provide compensation to 50 families still living along the train track in Poipet town. The Poipet to Sa Kaeo in Thailand line cannot be completed until the families have been relocated from along a 1km section of track. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart Prayut Chan-...
Read MoreVinci Invest in Indonesian Motorsport
Vinci Construction is to build a 120-hectare motorbike racing circuit and tourist complex on the Indonesian island of Lombok. The French company signed a USD500 million deal with the state-run Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), in the presence of French President Francois Hollande and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia. Abdulbar Mansoer, the head of ITDC, said the project woul...
Read MoreMalaysia Unveils Rail Route
The proposed route of the 600km East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) has been unveiled by the Malaysian government to allow a three-month window of feedback from the population. The USD13 billion Chinese-financed project is planned to start in the west near the capital Kuala Lumpur cutting across the peninsula and terminating near the Thai border with 23 stations proposed along the route. Following t...
Read MoreChina’s Capital Freeze Hits Malaysia Project
SCG Cement – Building Materials Company Ltd has expanded its Vietnam holdings with the purchase of Vietnam Construction Materials JSC for USD156 million. The Central Vietnam-based company has a cement production capacity of 3.1 million tons though SCG hopes to increase production through efficiency improvements. “Following this transaction, Siam Cement Group’s combined cement capacity across...
Read MoreIndia, Malaysia Plan Port City
An extension of the world’s 11th busiest shipping port in Malaysia is being planned by an Indian-Malaysian conglomerate to create a huge maritime city close to the capital Kuala Lumpur. Port Klang currently handles over 12 million containers per year and is also the planned start point for the 600km East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) to the Thai border. Two Malaysian companies - Sime Darby and MMC ...
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